Battling Lleyton Hewitt bowed out of the Sydney International after a three-set defeat to fifth seed Viktor Troicki.
The former world number one pushed the 2011 runner-up all the way and looked to be in a good position to take out the match when up a set and a break.
But the fleet-footed Serbian, ranked 21 in the world to Hewitt's 182, ultimately prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Troicki had raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set but the typically spirited Hewitt dragged his way back into the match by breaking back and going on to claim the next five games.
The momentum continued Hewitt's way early in the second set when he went up a break but he could not maintain his dominance, as Serbia's 2010 Davis Cup hero loosened up and took control of the match.
Four-time Sydney International winner Hewitt will now head to Melbourne for his 16th consecutive Australian Open campaign.
Hewitt says his toe injury is in much the same condition as when he played his first competitive match of the year against Spain's Fernando Verdasco at the Hopman Cup in Perth.
"It's no worse," he said.
"That's probably the biggest positive out of it.
"If I played [after the] first match against Verdasco and couldn't walk the next day that was going to be a worry, but it hasn't got any worse."
With one win from his four matches of the year but some positive signs most times he played, Hewitt admits to being being frustrated.
"But as I said, I didn't come to Perth or here with the highest expectations," he said.
"It was to try and get match hardened as much as possible.
"Sure, I would've liked another match or two here for sure. But all said and done, I felt like any movements got better throughout the Hopman Cup. Then I think tonight was the best I moved, better than I moved in the Hopman Cup, which is a positive, because obviously my movement is such a big part of my game."
As for his future Hewitt was typically non-committal about his longer term plans, only offering that he is still like to play in Sydney again next year.
"At the moment I would like to," Hewitt said of playing the Sydney International in 2013.
"Obviously my focus is on the Aussie Open next week.
"To tell you the truth, we got that and then two weeks later, a week and a half later the Davis Cup in Geelong. I haven't looked past that."
On an otherwise a quiet day on the men's side of the draw crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Dmitry Tursunov while Radek Stepanek, Julien Benneteau, Fabio Fognini and Alex Bogomolov all moved through to the last 16.
AAP
Tags: sport, tennis, sydney-2000 First posted January 10, 2012 20:20:27
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